Tottenham Hotspur falls to second-half loss

Tottenham Hotspur fell to a loss in the second half of last year, thanks in part to the decision to change its management earlier this season.

The North London club paid £4m to previous coach Martin Jol who was replaced by former Sevilla coach Juande Ramos in October. Mr Ramos has been joined as assistant coaches by Marcos Alvarez and former Spurs midfielder Gus Poyet.

For the six months to December 31, the company had a pre-tax loss of £26,000 compared to a profit of £19.7m in the same period last year.

Profit before player trading and amortisation for half was £9.9m, just over 30pc lower than the previous like-for-like figure of £14.2m.

Meanwhile, revenue at the club was up 14pc to £54.5m owing to the increase of income generated by broadcasting, merchandising and sponsorship rights.

Chairman Daniel Levy said: "Revenue continues to grow as we drive all areas of the club. The decrease in profit reflects one-off costs including the changes to football management made during the period."

Mr Levy admitted that the performance on the pitch in the second half of last year had been "disappointing" but stressed that the new management had brought in "immediate improvements".

In the most recent world football money league – compiled by Deloitte & Touche and based on last year's financial statements – Tottenham had climbed four places to 11th after it broke the £100m annual revenue mark for the first time in its history.

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The club says it remains on course to better its £103.1m figure after the next set of six-month results are released.

Spurs, who still trail domestic rivals Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the financial stakes, boast the smallest stadium out of the top 15 clubs in Deloitte's table.

The club is also the highest ranked football club in Europe that did not feature in the 2006-07 Champions League campaign.

Mr Levy announced that the board remains on course to announce its preferred option for the site of Tottenham's proposed new stadium by the end of the current season.

The club's current stadium, White Hart Lane, has a capacity of 36,000. With the side playing in front of a full or near capacity home crowd every game, the Tottenham board hope to follow the example of local rivals Arsenal and bring in extra revenue through the construction of a new home.

Arsenal's move to its 62,000 capacity Emirates stadium in 2006 has helped increase the club's match day revenue to £3m, three times the current turnover at Spurs.